Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally a short game analysis system comprised of a portable hitting robot, a hitting mat and an analysis launch monitor.
Brief Review of the Related Art
The golf game is comprised of many facets: driving, fairway metal shots, iron shots and putting. However, one of the most important facets to scoring well is the short game, those wedge shots that are about 125 yards and shorter. The short game also includes very short shots from bunkers, rough, hard pan lies and soft fairways. The short game, thus, comprises many different types of shots from many different conditions and testing products to confirm that they enable a player to have the best opportunities for a good short game is very difficult.
In order to test golf products, many robots and launch monitors have been designed. Hitting robots date back to at least U.S. Pat. No. 3,373,612, which issued in 1968. This GolfCraft robot was used by Acushnet Company for many years to demonstrate the improvements and superior quality in the Acushnet golf balls over the competition. The robot was relatively simple in that it had a reverse motor that would move the club arm in correspondence to the golfer's backswing and then automatically release the arm at the end of the back swing. Potential energy storing means, a spring, was energized through the backswing and then would apply a driving force to the club arm to drive the club through the foreswing. The robot further allowed the club to be manually cocked prior to the backswing and then released so that the swing could mimic the wrist action of a golfer.
Referring to FIG. 1, a prior art robot 10 is substantially similar to that patented in U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,761, but it is placed on a movable base 12. The robot 10 has base 12, a plurality of wheels 14, a servomotor 16, a swing arm 18 and swing wrist 20. The golf club 22 is coupled to the swing wrist 20. The swing arm 18 and the swing wrist 20 are powered by the servomotor 16 through a gearbox such that the entire extent of the swing can be controlled by a specified angular position and the torque of the servomotor can be increased by a ratio of about 8-1. The swing arm 18 and the servomotor 16 are coupled to the base 12 by a plurality of swivel plates 24 and a plurality of mounting plates 26. The mounting plates 26 can be rotated to adjust the robot around a plane parallel to the object to be struck and the swivel plates 24 can be adjusted to adjust the lie angle of the golf club. The robot, like previous robots, is designed to swing a club so that it hits a golf ball off of a tee. Due to the gearbox, any impact force felt from the club has an extremely high reflective inertia force on the motor. For example with a torque ratio of 8-1, the reflective inertia torque from the golf club on the motor would be 64-1. Thus, golf club impacts can severely damage the electric motor. Overall, the robot, including the frame, swivel plates, mounting plates, swing arm and swing wrist, is constructed primarily of structural steel.